The Ranger Gathering Games
by zocolemoleo704
Summary: It's the annual Ranger Gathering, but things are a bit different this year. A series of games and challenges are set up for the Rangers to compete in. The question is...who will be the winner? Each chapter is about a different Ranger.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: Rangers Apprentice belongs to John Flanagan, who (regrettably) I am not._

Halt hated sailing. He got seasick just thinking about it, and that's what made the first event so unbearably aggravating. He was furious at Crowley for dreaming this up; Crowley knew he couldn't sail without losing his lunch. In his mind he was transported back to the reason he was here in the first place…

Yesterday, Halt had been on his way to the annual Rangers gathering, the only time when all the Rangers of Araluen were together. He had left his cottage and set out for the gathering as always, leaving at first light and arriving just in time to set up his camp before dark. Then he had walked around the camping area to see if he recognized any faces. He was delighted to find that his two former apprentices, Will and Gilan, were both already there. He stayed and chatted with them for awhile, then the three of went to the meeting that was always held there.

The meeting proceeded as usual. Crowley made some announcements and welcomed a couple new apprentices.

But then something unusual happened.

Crowley announced, "I am pleased to inform you that this year the gathering will be extended because I have decided to do something a little different."

There were murmurs of confusion throughout the crowd.

He continued, "This year we will have a series of games and challenges, the first of which will take place tomorrow. I have provided small one man boats for every person…" He then proceeded to explain the first event.

It was simple. Everyone except the apprentices were to be given a boat with a small flag in them. They would then sail down the river where they get water, at the end of which was a huge hill. Up the hill they would climb, where the first Ranger to reach the top would plant their flag in the hole provided. The first to do so would be the winner.

And that explained why Halt was now at the edge of the river with his small one man boat and a large bucket. There was going to be a referee at the top of the hill that would signal the start of the challenge, and likewise for the finish. Nobody noticed the sack Halt was carrying.

_TWEET!_

The challenge began, and immediately Halt sagged behind. Will passed him and called out, "Looking a little green around the gills, aren't you, Halt!" He sped ahead laughing.

"We'll see who's laughing in the end," he muttered to himself. He reached into the sack and pulled out a grappling hook. He threw it at the nearest boat, which happened to be Gilan's. It caught immediately and Halt pulled his boat past Gilan's. He noted Gilan's shocked expression and called out, "Thanks!"

He pulled away to the next boat. He kept on doing this until only Will's boat was left, but Will was out of reach of the grappling hook. _No matter, _Halt thought, _I have more tricks up my sleeve._ And indeed he did.

Will was the first to reach the shore. He took his flag and started climbing. Halt arrived a second later. He reached into his sack again, this time pulling out a whip. Taking his flag, he began to climb up the hill.

Will was almost at the top of the hill when he felt a searing pain in his legs and fell down. Halt had whipped his legs and tripped him. Will watched, aghast, as Halt passed him and placed his flag into the hole in the ground.

_TWEET! _

The referee signaled the end of the challenge and shook Halt's hand. Halt knew that Crowley had only made this challenge because he knew Halt couldn't sail and wanted to watch him lose. So much for that idea.

_Now to rub it in Crowley's_ _face, _he thought, and walked away, laughing.

_A/N: I am open to any ideas for the next event(s), so if you have any, please share them! I'd really appreciate reviews! _


	2. Chapter 2

**_Author's Note: Thanks very much to everyone who reviewed the first chapter! I'm really grateful to you all! Sorry it took a while to get chapter 2 up! Here is my list of excuses:_**

**_Number One: broken keyboard._**

**_Number Two: writer's block. _**

**_Number Three: visiting relatives._**

**_Thanks to _****Bralt**_**, who gave the idea for this chapter. Also, thanks to everyone who gave ideas for events. Anyway, I now present to you...Chapter Two!**_

Crowley hadn't expected Halt to win, especially without getting seasick. Crowley had also competed in the challenge; he had been astounded when Halt had grappled his boat. And now Halt had come to gloat about it.

"Well, Crowley, guess who just won the challenge," Halt boasted, with an evil grin on his face.

"I'm stumped; tell me," Crowley replied sarcastically.

"You know perfectly well who," Halt said, noticing the sarcasm but choosing to ignore it.

"Well, you won't be so cocky by the end of tomorrow's race!" Crowley said angrily.

"A race? What kind of race?" Halt asked.

"You'll find out tonight," Crowley said.

And indeed he did. For later that night Halt was sitting around a camp fire with Gilan and Will when an over eager new apprentice came running up to them.

"Sirs!" he said. "Mr. Boss man wants me to tell everyone that the event for tomorrow is going to be a marathon!"

"Wait," Will said, "like a running marathon?"

"Yes sir!"

"But we're rangers; we ride horses, but we can't run!" Gilan said.

"Yes, but that's the next challenge; my father ran a marathon once, and afterward he could hardly walk for a week! I'm sure glad I can't compete! Bye!"

The color flooded out of the three Rangers' faces.

And with that, the apprentice ran off to tell other people.

Will looked at Halt and asked, "Was I that excited when I was an apprentice?"

"No," Halt said, "You were even more so."

_oOoOoOo_

Crowley met Halt at the start of the race. Halt looked weary, and there were dark rings under his eyes. It appeared he had lost sleep from anxiety.

"Say, Halt, you don't look so good," said Crowley, trying to hide a grin.

Halt just glared at him.

"Well, I'm ready for this one," Crowley said. "I've been training all year."

"You've been training?" Halt exclaimed indignantly.

"Yeah," Crowley said, "ever since the last gathering. It's one of the advantages of being commandant- you know things early."

Ignoring Halt's furious stares, he started warming up while waiting for the rest of the Rangers to arrive. It didn't take long for the others to get there. When they did, the referee explained further, "This is going to be a twenty-six mile race, so we'll have water stops every five miles, which you'll be able to rest for fifteen minutes at. I don't expect all of you to finish, so you will be able to drop out at any of the water stops. Please remember to drink on the trail; we don't want anyone dehydrated, so we'll give you water skins. Well, I suppose that's all, then. ON YOUR MARK, GET SET, GO!"

The Rangers took off slowly as to conserve energy, but Crowley set off at a slightly faster pace, as he was more used to this. The miles slowly ticked by.

Mile one…

The trail was beautiful, but rough and rocky; it was tough even for Crowley. At one point there was a large hill which was very difficult to climb because it was so rocky. It was even more difficult to go down.

Mile two…

The runners came to a fork in the trail where a sign told them to go to the left. Half a mile down that road they came to a large creek they had to go through. It wasn't very deep, but it was a relief to some hot and thirsty runners, who had already drained their water skins.

Mile three…

Halt wasn't having a very good time. He was trying so hard to prove to Crowley that he was in good shape that he ran across the creek so fast he slipped on some rocks, which resulted in him getting wet and bruised.

Mile four…

The only person half as good as Crowley was Will, which was only because he had had a lot of practice running away from Horace in his years at the ward. But Crowley was still much farther ahead than he was.

Mile five…

By now most of the runners were exhausted, and ready for the fifteen minute break at the water stop. They had to climb another hill to get there, where a referee took their names and wrote them down on a pad so they could later check to see if anyone was missing. The referee also told  
>them that for the next five miles they would do a loop and come back to this same hill for the next rest.<p>

"Well, Halt, have you dropped out yet? If not you'd better go do it now, the break is almost up." said Crowley.

"No, and I'm not going to!" Halt snapped.

"Come on, Halt, half the Rangers have dropped out already! And all the Rangers aren't even back yet!"

"My answer hasn't changed in the last two seconds."

Crowley shrugged and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Your funeral,"  
>and walked away leaving Halt feeling slightly uneasy.<p>

Mile six…

What was left of the runners trudged on, but most of them at a much slower pace than before.  
>They crossed another creek, which Halt was careful not to slip and hurt himself in, and so managed to cross it safely.<p>

Mile seven…

Now there was a long stretch of trail where instead of the rocks there was foot deep sand.  
>It was a nice break from rocks and roots, but the deep sand proved to be most difficult to<br>run in.

Mile eight…

Another hill. This was not as rocky as the first one but they it was larger and steeper.  
>So steep was the hill that once they got to the top the referee had tied a large rope<br>to a small but sturdy bush that was at the top of the hill.

Mile nine…

The runners were really sore and tired after running almost ten miles. Some of their knees had started to swell, like the apprentice said. Those few Rangers had to walk the rest of the way.

Mile ten…

The runners were deeply relieved to see the hill with the referees at the refreshments. Like last time the referee wrote down their names on a pad and then the runners went to sit down.

_oOoOoOoOo_

"Well, Halt, you dropped out yet?" Crowley asked.

"No," Halt replied.

"Are you going to?"

"That's none of your business," Halt said coldly.

"Actually it is; you see that everybody has dropped out but you and me. So are you going to drop out or not?"

"I'm not."

"Well then you'd better get up; the break's over."

Halt started to get up, but found that the log of which he was sitting on came up with him. He looked around at the small log and found that it had somehow been glued to his pants. He could not run like this, and as he was on a hill in the middle of the forest, he could not change his pants. He was going to have to drop out, which would mean Crowley would win.

"Crowley! That's cheating!" Halt shouted. Halt rarely raised his voice, so Crowley knew he was really angry.

"Wasn't that incident with the grappling hook cheating?"

"Yes but-

Crowley interrupted him, "So I don't see why I can't cheat."

This left Halt at a loss for words

"Revenge is sweet," Crowley said as he walked away to tell the other Rangers about his victory over Halt.

_**A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! Please review! Also: start giving me your opinions of who you think should win the whole event! :) The choices are:**_

_**Crowley**_

_**Will**_

_**Halt**_

_**Gilan**_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry it took long to get this out. Hope you enjoy it!**

A week had passed since Crowley had won the marathon. He had allowed the Rangers one week of rest to recover from the run. Normally it would take longer than that to recover but as none of the Rangers had run even half a marathon just one week would suffice. It was now the evening before the third challenge, and like before, an apprentice had been sent to tell everyone about the third event.

Gilan saw the apprentice before the boy saw him; the reason of which was because Gilan was practicing with his unseen movement. And nobody, not even Halt, could see him if he didn't want them to.

"Gilan?" the apprentice called. "Gilan, are you here?"

"I'm here," said a voice next to him. The apprentice jumped and looked around him; he now saw Gilan standing next to him owing to the fact that Gilan had removed his cloak.

"Gee Gilan, you scared me!" the apprentice said indignantly.

"That was the point."

"Oh," the apprentice said. "Well anyway, Crowley sent me to tell you that tomorrow's challenge is an obstacle course."

"Interesting; do you know what type of obstacles?"

"No, but they'll probably explain more tomorrow at the start of the challenge. Well, I've got to go."

The apprentice left Gilan and went to spread the word.

_oOoOoOoOoOo _

It was now early the next morning at the start of the challenge, and the head referee continued explaining:

"Okay, as you were told yesterday, the challenge for today is an obstacle course which will consist of obstacles such as swinging across pits filled with snakes on ropes, climbing up and down nets, and much more. You must go over, under, or through the obstacles; you may not go around or you will be disqualified, and we will have referees to watch you. No weapons will be allowed. At the end of the course there will be a clay statue; we will provide a bow and a quiver of arrows; you must shoot the statue in both eyes before you are declared winner. You will start on three. That's all you need to know."

The referee paused. "One…two…"

Tension began to build up throughout the crowd.

"Three!"

The Rangers took off and ran towards the first obstacle. Barbed wire was spread out for a hundred yards two feet above the ground. Gilan dropped to the ground and started to inch his way toward the end. He got snagged a couple times and very quickly he was covered in minor cuts and bruises.

_R-i-i-i-p!_

Halt swore loudly as the wire ripped his cloak in two. As Gilan emerged from the wire he realized the reason for putting that first: it was meant to weaken the contestants.

_Well,_ _it sure did its job, _Gilan thought as he ran toward the next obstacle, nursing his injuries. Up next was the pit filled with snakes. The pit was deep but not so deep that one couldn't escape if they fell. Gilan looked down and was relieved to see pythons and not venomous snakes. _But still, _he thought, _pythons can be dangerous._ He swung across the pit and continued running.

Gilan saw Crowley struggling to get untangled from a large net which was obviously the next obstacle. He paused for a second to help Crowley untangle himself.

"Thanks!" Crowley said.

"You're welcome," Gilan replied as he pushed Crowley back ten feet.

Gilan scaled the net in no time at all, but going down was a little trickier. His foot slipped through the net at one point and it took him a couple minutes to get it out and finish climbing down.

Gilan had to run a long way to get to the next obstacle, but he didn't mind; it gave him a lot of time to pass other contestants. Pretty soon he was in first place.

He saw the next obstacle: a metal tube he which had to crawl through

The tube was at least fifty feet long and it was muddy and grimy. It was a pain to crawl through; Gilan got mud all over his pants and cloak. When he emerged he was happy to see that the fifth and final obstacle was a long stretch of water. He jumped in but in his haste to get clean he didn't check the water temperature. Gilan's body went rigid as the coldness of the water swept over him. He wanted to get out but he knew the only way to get it over with was to keep one going. The water was too shallow to swim but still deep enough to be cold to wade in. Gilan knew this only made it worse, because swimming would heat you up.

He emerged from the water, shivering and teeth chattering. He saw the bow and arrows up ahead and started to run. As he got closer, he couldn't help but laughing as he saw who the statue was. It was a statue of Halt. Gilan picked up the bow and loaded an arrow; he drew back the string, and fired.

_Smack! _

The arrow went into Halt's left eye. Since the statue was made out of clay the arrow just stuck there.

_Smack!_

There went Halt's right eye. He looked so funny with two arrows sticking out of his eyes that it caused Gilan to laugh again.

_TWEET! _

The challenge ended and the rest of the Rangers arrived shortly. Gilan saw Halt's furious face and decided it was time to clear out.

**A/N: For those of you who were asking, I promise the next chapter will be about Will. ****Like I said before please tell me who you want to win overall, the choices are Halt, Crowley, Gilan, and Will.  
><strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this out. The next chapter should be out quicker. Hope you like it!**

Will was sitting on a log drinking his morning cup of coffee when Crowley walked up to him.

"Hi, Will!" the commandant said cheerfully.

"Hello Crowley," Will replied. When he saw Crowley eyeing the coffee longingly he asked, "Want a cup?"

Crowley nodded eagerly, so Will poured a cup of coffee and handed it to the commandant. Crowley added a large spoonful of honey to his cup and took a sip.

"Good coffee," he commented.

"You ever tasted _bad _coffee?" Will asked.

"Come to think about it, no," Crowley answered. "But anyways, I came to tell you that tonight there's a meeting at the command tent for the next challenge."

"I'll be there," Will promised.

"See you tonight then," Crowley said, then turned and walked away.

_OoOoOoOoOo _

When Will arrived at the command tent, most of the Rangers were already there. He put his chair on the ground and sat. Before long the other Rangers began to arrive and pretty soon the whole corps was there.

Crowley stood up to start the briefing for the next event.

"This challenge will take place tomorrow morning, but it will not be on the grounds."

The crowd murmured in confusion but stopped as Crowley resumed talking.

"The challenge will take place at a lake not far from here, but we will have to ride our horses to get there. In the lake I have set up fifty little red flags that you must retrieve. The lake is very clear so you will be able to see the flags. You will have thirty minutes to gather as many flags as you can; the referee will blow a whistle every ten minutes. The Ranger with the most flags wins. Tomorrow morning the referee will blow a whistle to wake everyone up. One hour from the whistle we will leave to go to the lake. This is the penultimate challenge. The winner of this one and the winners of the other challenges will compete in one final challenge. So far the winners are Gilan, Halt, and myself. Good luck and may the best Ranger win!"

_OoOoOoOoOo_

_TWEEEEEET!_

When Will heard the whistle that signaled for everyone to wake up, he crawled out of his tent and walked to the fire ring. He took out his flint and steel and began to strike them together. Before long he had a nice little fire going. He laid a pot of water to boil, then fixed himself a piece of toast and ate it while his water was heating. When the water started to boil he poured it in a cup, mixed in the grounds, added some honey, and quickly drank his coffee.

Will walked to the gathering's stables and started grooming Tug. Once Tug was clean Will saddled him up, mounted him, and started riding to the center of the grounds. Most of the rangers were already there so it wasn't long before the remaining Rangers came. They set off for the lake, maintaining a steady trot, and after a little while they arrived. They rangers dismounted, went behind trees to change into their swimming trunks, and gathered near the lake.

The referee said, "You guys know what you're supposed to do so get out there and do it!" Then he blew the whistle once more, signaling the start of the challenge.

The rangers dived into the lake and started swimming out.

_Crowley was right,_ Will thought. _This lake really is clear. _

He swam out a little more and soon saw a small red flag at the bottom of the lake. He went up, took a deep breath, and dived down to retrieve the flag. Once his hand closed around it, he went up for air. _One_, he thought.

He swam some more. When he didn't see anything, he stopped for a moment and treaded water, admiring the lake. It was quite beautiful. On the far side of the lake there were cliffs rising up from the water, and under the lake there was vegetation and thousands of little pebbles. It was filled with fish and turtles and other wild life. Will would have liked to stay and admire the lake some more, but he had to go back to the challenge.

_TWEEEET! _

Will heard the whistle and knew that ten minutes had already passed- a third of the challenge. He only had one flag, so he set out to find more with renewed determination. He swam a little ways. Before long he saw another flag and immediately dived down to get it. He saw that Halt was also on his way there.

Will began to swim faster.

So did Halt.

Will reached the flag first and snatched it, but Halt was right behind him. He grabbed Will's leg and pulled himself forward, then tried to take the flag away from Will. But Will had an iron grip. The struggle continued for a moment, but then Will managed to kick Halt away from him and swim away. _Two_, he thought.

After coming up for air, Will continued his search.

_TWEEEET! _

The second whistle sounded. Twenty minutes had now gone by. _Only ten more to go_, he thought. He took a breath of air and swam down to investigate the bottom of the lake.

For a few moments he looked around without success. Then he saw it. Half squashed under a rock was another red flag.

After quickly putting both his flags in the same hand, he swam down to get it; but this time he had forgotten to take a fresh breath of air. He had to turn back before he could get to the flag. By the time he got some air and came back, the flag was gone. Will saw the tall form of Gilan swimming away.

Will estimated there was about five more minutes to the challenge. He swam off twice as quickly as before. It wasn't long before, going down a little farther, he spotted another flag. This time he remembered to take a new breath of air before descending to the bottom of the lake.

As quickly as he could, he grabbed the flag and swam up. He emerged from the water just as the whistle blew. He took a few breaths of air, and then swam to the shore.

When all the Rangers were there the referee tallied up the score.

Will had found three flags, Halt had found two, Crowley found zero, and Gilan found one.

Will was declared the winner, and then the Rangers rode back to camp.

**A/N: As always, reviews are much appreciated! Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed, and voted on who they want to win. The voting is over now, though. The overall winner will be revealed in the next chapter!**


End file.
